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EXCLUSIVE

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A severe fire season can now safely be attributed in part to climate change, agree Labor's Pat Conroy and Liberal Andrew Laming, but not individual fires.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt was given a thorough briefing about the effects of climate change on Australia's weather patterns three weeks before he told a BBC radio interview he had sourced information on bushfires and global warming from Wikipedia.

Confidential Bureau of Meteorology briefings, obtained by Fairfax Media through freedom-of-information laws, show senior officials warned Mr Hunt that the extreme heat that baked Australia in 2013 was "unprecedented" before Mr Hunt downplayed any link between fires and climate change in an interview with the BBC's Newshour in October last year.

The initial briefings show officials advised Mr Hunt that recent extreme heat was consistent with "a pattern of global warming", while subsequent advice in November said climate change had increased the odds of "severe weather conducive to severe bushfires occurring".

Firefighters battle a blaze in the Blue Mountains in September, 2013, a month of "unprecedented" high temperatures. Photo: Nick Moir

The documents shatter claims made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who last year dismissed any link between global warming and bushfires, and show the extent to which the government has been advised of climate change's influence on recent extreme weather in Australia.

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Mr Hunt was questioned on Newshour on October 23 last year and appeared to use Wikipedia to defend the Prime Minister's assertionthat United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres was "talking out of her hat" when she said bushfires were linked to climate change.

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Minister warned, quotes Wikipedia

EXCLUSIVE

Video will begin in 5 seconds.

A severe fire season can now safely be attributed in part to climate change, agree Labor's Pat Conroy and Liberal Andrew Laming, but not individual fires.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt was given a thorough briefing about the effects of climate change on Australia's weather patterns three weeks before he told a BBC radio interview he had sourced information on bushfires and global warming from Wikipedia.

Confidential Bureau of Meteorology briefings, obtained by Fairfax Media through freedom-of-information laws, show senior officials warned Mr Hunt that the extreme heat that baked Australia in 2013 was "unprecedented" before Mr Hunt downplayed any link between fires and climate change in an interview with the BBC's Newshour in October last year.

The initial briefings show officials advised Mr Hunt that recent extreme heat was consistent with "a pattern of global warming", while subsequent advice in November said climate change had increased the odds of "severe weather conducive to severe bushfires occurring".

Firefighters battle a blaze in the Blue Mountains in September, 2013, a month of "unprecedented" high temperatures. Photo: Nick Moir

The documents shatter claims made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who last year dismissed any link between global warming and bushfires, and show the extent to which the government has been advised of climate change's influence on recent extreme weather in Australia.

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Mr Hunt was questioned on Newshour on October 23 last year and appeared to use Wikipedia to defend the Prime Minister's assertionthat United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres was "talking out of her hat" when she said bushfires were linked to climate change.

More:
Hunt warned before Wikipedia quote

"We'll just put all the environment outside of Australia, just like we did with asylum seekers! Easy!" Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Expert advice is in the eye of the beholder

Environment Minister Greg "what's an environment?" Hunt has a difficult job. For a start, he has to do things like stand up in front of journalists and remember that his title isn't really Minister for Letting Private Concerns Profit From Exploiting The Environment Whatever That Even Is, despite that essentially being his brief.

After all, 2014 would be a stressful time to actually be responsible for environmental policy, what with the harshest predictions of the effects of global warming already coming to pass: intense storms all over the world, higher incidences of cyclones, flooding, sea level rise, the Antarctic melting to the point where the Earth's gravity has been changed and so on.

Fortunately Hunt doesn't let these sorts of things bother him, because you can't fear what you deliberately ignore.

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After all, closing his eyes really really tight is how he stopped being scared of the monster in his wardrobe, and that's how he's dealing with evidence that expanding Queensland's coal shipping will poison the Great Barrier Reef.

But lest you think that he doesn't take his ostensible responsibilities seriously, you might recall that Hunt insisted that he'd consulted the planet's greatest experts on climate change - Wikipedia - before going on BBC Radio on October 23 last year.

When denouncing claims from United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres that climate change was responsible for the increased incidence of bushfires, your minister "looked up what Wikipedia says" which was apparently "bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year That's the Australian experience".

Now, leaving aside the fact that Year 9s expect to be marked down for using Wikipedia as their sole source for a school report, there's the problematic Freedom Of Information-retrieved fact that Greggles had a meeting with the Bureau of Meteorology on October 3 last year.

Read the original:
Greg Hunt can use Wikipedia?

EXCLUSIVE

Video will begin in 5 seconds.

A severe fire season can now safely be attributed in part to climate change, agree Labor's Pat Conroy and Liberal Andrew Laming, but not individual fires.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt was given a thorough briefing about the effects of climate change on Australia's weather patterns three weeks before he told a BBC radio interview he had sourced information on bushfires and global warming from Wikipedia.

Confidential Bureau of Meteorology briefings, obtained by Fairfax Media through freedom-of-information laws, show senior officials warned Mr Hunt that the extreme heat that baked Australia in 2013 was "unprecedented" before Mr Hunt downplayed any link between fires and climate change in an interview with the BBC's Newshour in October last year.

The initial briefings show officials advised Mr Hunt that recent extreme heat was consistent with "a pattern of global warming", while subsequent advice in November said climate change had increased the odds of "severe weather conducive to severe bushfires occurring".

Firefighters battle a blaze in the Blue Mountains in September, 2013, a month of "unprecedented" high temperatures. Photo: Nick Moir

The documents shatter claims made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who last year dismissed any link between global warming and bushfires, and show the extent to which the government has been advised of climate change's influence on recent extreme weather in Australia.

Advertisement

Mr Hunt was questioned on Newshour on October 23 last year and appeared to use Wikipedia to defend the Prime Minister's assertionthat United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres was "talking out of her hat" when she said bushfires were linked to climate change.

The rest is here:
Hunt briefed, then quotes Wikipedia

EXCLUSIVE

Video will begin in 5 seconds.

A severe fire season can now safely be attributed in part to climate change, agree Labor's Pat Conroy and Liberal Andrew Laming, but not individual fires.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt was given a thorough briefing about the effects of climate change on Australia's weather patterns three weeks before he told a BBC radio interview he had sourced information on bushfires and global warming from Wikipedia.

Confidential Bureau of Meteorology briefings, obtained by Fairfax Media through freedom-of-information laws, show senior officials warned Mr Hunt that the extreme heat that baked Australia in 2013 was "unprecedented" before Mr Hunt downplayed any link between fires and climate change in an interview with the BBC's Newshour in October last year.

The initial briefings show officials advised Mr Hunt that recent extreme heat was consistent with "a pattern of global warming", while subsequent advice in November said climate change had increased the odds of "severe weather conducive to severe bushfires occurring".

Firefighters battle a blaze in the Blue Mountains in September, 2013, a month of "unprecedented" high temperatures. Photo: Nick Moir

The documents shatter claims made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who last year dismissed any link between global warming and bushfires, and show the extent to which the government has been advised of climate change's influence on recent extreme weather in Australia.

Advertisement

Mr Hunt was questioned on Newshour on October 23 last year and appeared to use Wikipedia to defend the Prime Minister's assertionthat United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres was "talking out of her hat" when she said bushfires were linked to climate change.

Original post:
Minister warned, then quotes Wikipedia